"I've got used to living here now...It's quite a strange place to live, It's just a bit noisy at times. I could do with finding a switch to turn the noise off, but I haven't managed to find that button yet."
– Paul Thorp, owner of Stott Hall Farm
Highway Home is a contemplative, static study of an unlikely landmark in an unlikely place. Normally only glimpsed in passing, Stott Hall Farm, a cottage built in 1737, floats islandlike in the middle of the M62 in West Yorkshire, whilst cars and lorries thunder past on both sides. Despite the farm seemingly being a monument to stubbornness, the urban myth being that the farmer refused to leave when the motorway was built in the 1970s, the truth of the story is that the east- and westbound carriageways could not meet due to the lie of the land, and the motorway had to be parted around the cottage to avoid landslips.
Commissioned for Composure, a project initiated by Lumen to encourage focus on considered shot composition and move the emphasis of creating new work away from reliance on post-production techniques. In order to achieve this, films were required to be a single locked-off HD film with a running time of between 2 and 3 minutes.
Commissioned by Lumen. Funded by Screen Yorkshire, Arts Council England and the National Lottery.
http://www.blanchepictures.com/films/highwayhome.htm